Gates Defends Criticism of Obama

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in his first interview broadcast since details of his new book were made public, defended his decision to write a candid memoir and restated his criticism of President Barack Obama’s handing of the Afghanistan war.

In the interview, Mr. Gates said he believed Mr. Obama lacked conviction on “the importance of success” in Afghanistan.

“It is one thing to tell the troops you support them, it is another thing to work at making them believe, that you believe as president that their sacrifice is worth it, that the cause is just, that what they are doing is important to the country, and that they must succeed,” Mr. Gates told CBS News. “President Bush did that with the troops when I was secretary. I did not see President Obama do that.”

The bulk of the interview, which aired Sunday morning, was taped before details of the book emerged last week and the memoir became the centerpiece of political controversy.

Indeed, except for a portion of the interview taped after details of the book leaked out, Mr. Gates wasn’t wearing the neck brace he was fitted with after a fall at his home in Washington State on January 1.

In the part taped last week, Mr. Gates said his concern was that over 2010 and 2011 Mr. Obama “began to have his own reservations of whether it would all work.”

Mr. Gates was asked if he violated his own adage of “never miss a good chance to shut up” by publishing his memoir while Mr. Obama was still in office and the war in Afghanistan still underway.

“I didn’t think that waiting until 2017 to weigh in on these issues—in a comprehensive and thoughtful way—made any sense,” he said. “People gave me a lot of credit when I was in office about being blunt and candid about what I felt about things, I could hardly be any less in writing a book.”

Mr. Gates said the reaction to the book reflected the polarization of American politics.

“My objective was to stand back and take a nonpartisan look at the kinds of issues that have riven our country and riven our government for the last number of years,” he said.

He wasn’t questioned in depth about his criticism of Hillary Clinton. In the book, he wrote that Mrs. Clinton had revealed in a White House meetings that her opposition to the Iraq surge in 2007 was political. Mr. Gates instead offered praise of her tough-mindedness. Asked if she would make a good president, Mr. Gates said: “actually I think she would.”

Mr. Gates did repeat his criticism of Vice President Joe Biden. He said once, when driving back to the Pentagon, Adm. Michael Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted that for once Mr. Gates and Mr. Biden had agreed on something in a meeting.

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